On "How Great Thou Art"

In his recent Pietisten column, Glen Wiberg discusses the transformation of Carl Boberg's 1885 poem, "O Store Gud," into the hymn we know today as "How Great Thou Art." He describes translation adventures from the original Swedish and decisions about which part of the poem to include in a particular version of the hymn and concludes by saying,

…despite the distance from or closeness to the original, the
song has survived and continues to bless those standing in awe at the
wondrous deeds of this mighty God. But I have a hunch that from some
higher balcony Carl Boberg looks down smiling at the stir he created
for translators—all from a summer's afternoon walk beside a lake
and through the woods in a thunderstorm. (Summer 2002, p. 6)

A recent interest in Gospel music has led me to a lot of "singing in
the shower" as I explore our own Swedish Gospel songs along with
American revival hymns. "How Great Thou Art" is one of my favorites,
and so I was especially interested in Wiberg's discussion. I sang this
song over and over again and read J. Irving Erickson's account of how
it came to be written in his book Twice-Born Hymns (1976) and
in Sing it Again (1985). In the process, I became fascinated
with the connection between that "summer's afternoon walk beside a lake
and through the woods in a thunderstorm" and the poem Boberg wrote.
Erickson wrote:

Carl Boberg and some friends were returning home to
Mönsterœs from Kronoböck, where they had
participated in an afternoon service. Nature was at its peak that
radiant afternoon. Presently a thundercloud appeared on the horizon,
and soon sharp lightning flashed across the sky. Strong winds swept
over the meadows and billowing fields of grain. The thunder pealed in
loud claps. Then rain came in cool fresh showers. In a little while the
storm was over, and a rainbow appeared.

When Boberg arrived home, he opened the window and saw the bay of
Mšnsterœslike a mirror before him… From the woods
on the other side of the bay, he heard the song of a thrush…the
church bells were tolling in the quiet evening. It was this series of
sights, sounds, and experiences that inspired the writing of the song.
(pp. 9-10)

After reading this account, and singing the many verses from all
sources, I find that the real story of Boberg's deep faith and his
dramatic experience that day is most clearly contained in five of the
original nine verses. These five essential verses encompass our faith
experience as Boberg saw it: a response to God's might and power
reflected in His creation and expressed in the power of the storm and
the promise of the rainbow, then the miracle of Christ's coming and
then our hope for the future.

Thus in these verses we have: God the
creator—"Consider all the worlds thy hands have made. I see
the stars…"; the storm—"And when I hear the roar
of storms and thunders…"; our
environment—"Through woods and forest glades I wander, and
hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees…"; Christ comes to
earth—"When I think that God, his son not sparing, sent him
to die, I scarce can take it in…"; our hope beyond
tomorrow—"When Christ shall come with shouts of
acclamation…."

What Boberg felt that summer afternoon in 1885, we can feel and
vicariously experience as we sing these five verses today along with
the refrain, "Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee: How great
thou art, how great thou art!" Four of the five verses comprise the
hymn as it appears in the 1996 Covenant Hymnal—A worship
Book, but the storm verse (which was included in the 1973
Covenant Hymnal), is omitted. This, I think, ignores the heart
of the experience that prompted Boberg to write his poem. To me it is
like preaching the Gospel without the cross.

So this is a plea for the storm verse (in whatever translation) to
be included in the next edition of the Covenant Hymnal!